Some young children were taught about the atom by a good teacher. “An atom is made up of a
nucleus and an electron. The nucleus is like a planet, while the electron is like a moon spinning
around it” said the teacher. The students wrote down what the teacher said so that they would
remember it. As time went on the children grew and learned many things. One day the teacher
said to the children “Remember when I told you about atoms? Well now that you are older, I can
explain that the nucleus is not exactly like a planet. Instead it’s composed of one or more
neutrons and protons. The protons have a positive charge and attract the electrons which have a
negative charge, kind of like the earth attracts the moon by gravity. Some students listened to
the teacher and learned, while others did not. Instead when asked what an atom was they repeated
the first description they had learned and when others argued with them, they pointed to the book
and said that’s what the teacher taught them. When the children protested that the teacher had
taught them a new definition, the stubborn children refused to believe them. As time went on,
the teacher taught the students more and more complicated things about atoms until they were
learning of things way beyond quantum mechanics, yet some still refused to listen and believed
only what they were first taught. “You are all wrong” they said to the more learned children.
“The teacher taught us this” they would say, “and teacher is always right, never changes and would
never lie. We wrote it all down, so only what we wrote is right.”

Lesson: The lesson here is similar to that of the Parable of the Rule. A teacher or
parent can’t expect young children to have an adult understanding of a topic or phenomenon. But
for the child to learn, the teacher must explain the topic in terms that the child can grasp. Is
the teacher lying to the child by not explaining things exactly as they are? Of course not;
certainly not in the sense of attempting to deceive the child. It is often through imagery,
metaphor, and allegory that a child can relate to and begin to understand complex topics. But
it is vital that the child let go of the simplistic explanations and move forward in understanding
as more and more things are learned. How do we know when to abandon an old cherished concept for
a new one? When the new concept makes more sense. In the case of theology, it is when we listen to
God our teacher as he speaks to us today.